Satwik-Ponnappa advances, Gurusaidutt, Rituparna qualify for Singapore Open

Singapore July 17 (IANS) India s mixed doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa advanced while singles shuttlers R.M.V Gurusaidutt and Rituparna qualified for the Singapore Open here on Tuesday.
The Indian pair defeated Indonesian s Andika Ramadiansyah and Mychelle Crhystine 21-16 21-19 in just 34 minutes of opening round play.
Among other shuttlers Gurusaidutt and Rituparna Das qualified for the event defeating their opponents.
In men s singles Gurusaidutt defeated Rosario Maddaloni of Italy 21-7 21-10 while Rituparna edged past Chua Hui Zhen Grace of Singapore 13-21 21-16 21-12 in women s singles category to qualify.
The Indian mixed doubles pair of Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan bowed out of the meet losing to England s Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith in straight games.
Venkat and Juhi went down 10-21 9-21 in a match which lasted around 20 minutes.
It was the end of the road for men s singles shuttler Rahul Yadav as he was beaten by Lu Chia Hung of Chinese Taipei in the qualifiers.
Hung edged past Rahul 20-22 21-10 21-18 in a match marathon match of one hour.

--IANS gau/mr